The 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion was an Australian Army unit raised for service with the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) during the Second World War. Formed in late 1940 as part of the 8th Division, the battalion provided fire-support to the division’s component infantry brigades. In 1941–42, it was deployed north to meet the Japanese threat, seeing action in the disastrous the fighting in Singapore and on Java. During these campaigns, the 2/4th was all but destroyed with the majority of its personnel being either killed or becoming prisoners of war after the fall of Singapore in February 1942. During the three and half years they were in Japanese captivity, members of the 2/4th were sent to various prison camps around the Pacific where they were used as slave labour and subjecte